Notes on Liocranidae (Arachnida, Araneae, Dionycha) from Georgia with description of a new species

Abstract

The faunistic status of the spider family Liocranidae in Georgia is revised. Due to the preoccupation of the liocraniid genus Sagana Thorell, 1875, by a saturniid moth genus Sagana Walker, 1855 (currently placed in Copaxa Walker, 1855), the genus Drapeta Menge, 1875, is resurrected, hence the transfer of its type species D. rutilans (Thorell, 1875), comb. nov. and D. concolor (Simon, 1878), comb. nov. A new species, namely Drapeta caucasicasp. nov., is described from Georgia based on the male and female specimens from the Adjara region and Tbilisi vicinity. This is the third species of this previously considered monotypic genus. DNA barcoding results, diagnostic drawings, and detailed collecting data on Drapeta caucasicasp. nov., with a list of the Georgian Liocranidae, and previous records of ex-Sagana rutilans Thorell, 1875, in the Caucasus are discussed.